Dilly Beans

Like I said...those Royal Beans turn green when you cook them! Kind of fun.

But, I really wanted to share this amazing Bean Salad from Moosewood Cooks At Home. I prefer it chilled.

What You Need (Ingredients and Equipment)

• 1/2 to 1 pound green beans, preferably fresh-picked
• enough water to cover the beans in
• a pot big enough to hold the green beans and cover them with water
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, or 2 teaspoons dried
• strainer or colander
• measuring cup and spoons
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3-1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 1 tablespoon salt

What You Do

Bring the water to a boil in the pot. Cook the beans, covered, until bright green and just tender (3 to 5 minutes). Drain the beans, reserving 1/2 to 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Put the beans in a bowl and toss them with the dill.

Next, make your marinade: combine garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, sugar, and salt in your cooking pot and bring to a boil. After the mixture has simmered for about two minutes, pour it over the green beans and mix well. Add enough of the reserved cooking liquid to make sure the beans are covered. Serve immediately, or chill in the fridge. Like I said, I like it chilled but it's hot and anything chilled is good right now.

Moosewood says they will keep for four days, covered and refrigerated. 

Enjoy!

Royal Beans

I present our first pick of Her Majesty, Organic Royal Burgundy Snap Beans

I'm eager to cook these up and will post one of my favorite green bean recipes along with the update. They are supposed to turn green when you cook them. How magical! We have a special dinner tomorrow night with our guests, Heather and Zach. Cooking up lots of veggies and some iron skillet corn bread. Yummy!

These beans have proven to be easy producers. I hardly touched them in the garden and had no problems with white mold or pests. They are a great bush bean option.

There is a whole mess of Lazy Wife Pole Beans to pick too. I will probably freeze most of them to store. The heat was beating me down and I will have to go back to get those this evening. I'm over the heat already and it's only July 1st! Yikes!

I hope you are all staying as cool as possible. A dip in the river may be in order this afternoon.

Daylily Blooms

My veggie garden is coughing because it is so dry these days. However, the lilies are showing off in the drought. Here are some of the late June blooms...

Burgundy with Yellow Throat

Double w/ Ruffle

Orange with Yellow Midrib and Yellow Throat

Red with Orange/Yellow throat

Ruffle Rose with Burgundy Eye and Yellow Throat

Double Orange Ruffle Spider

Row of blooms

This is a beauty and big

Cream with Yellow Throat

Burgundy with Yellow/Chartreuse Throat

Yellow Spider

Ruffle Peach with Orange Eye

Rose with White Midrib and Yellow Throat

Almost White Trumpet

Funky looking Ruffle Spider. Pink with Yellow Midrib and Throat

Very Large Pale Yellow Blooms

There are over 7000 recorded varieties of daylilies out there in the world. We have over 200 on our farm. I'm not sure we will ever identify them all but I don't know that I care about that anymore. They are beautiful and fun to enjoy during the brief season.

As Promised...

A photo of the Elephant Garlic I harvested yesterday. Time to roast some up.

Notice the little nodes on the bottom of the bulb. You can replant those little nodes and a single bulb without individual cloves will grow from them. It's kind of miraculous.

Pacify the General

Some people think beets taste like dirt. I do admit they have an earthy quality, but I love that taste. I can’t get enough. I am already sad that I didn’t plant more beets this season.  I think I have a new excuse to overplant them next season.

I see an acupuncturist in Mars Hill. She is great! Go see Julia at Oak and Willow Acupuncture http://www.oakandwillowacupuncture.com/

One of the things that keeps coming up for me is an angry Liver chi. I also have some sort of battle going on between the spleen and liver chi. I get the funniest visualizations with this. Julia refers to the liver as the General. So I picture a liver dressed up as Cap’n Crunch and the spleen as Mighty Mouse. They are duking it out and meanwhile my blood is depleted and I’m low energy, can’t sleep right, anxious, not pleasant…etc.

This is where the beets come back into the picture. Julia talked with me about blood nourishing foods like BEETS, collards, and kale. I was happy to have another reason to lust beets.  Beets detoxify the liver, but they also help nourish blood, strengthen the heart, and calm the spirit.

Here are a few ways we like to cook them on the farm…

Simply boiled. Yup. Boil till tender. Run under cold water to peel off skin. Done. Slice and eat as they are or add to salad.

Roasted. Cut off the tops (save for sautéed greens). Toss beets in olive oil. Put them in tin foil or covered oven safe dish and put them in an oven at 375. Start checking for fork tenderness after 25 minutes. The time varies based on the size of the beets so keep checking. If you like sweet potatoes too, then try roasting them together. We call it Sweets and Beets.

Now… sometimes I like to boil/roast the beets then toss them into a pan with the greens and some garlic. The beet green tops are meant to be eaten too and they taste really yummy sautéed together.

I will recommend my friend Delia’s fabulous idea of boiled/roasted and chilled beets tossed in olive oil with fresh mint! Oh my, that is good stuff. When she brought these over to our house, I knew she was a flavor genius.

A little tip from my chi to yours:

Nourish your blood and pacify the General…eat your beets.

Garlic Breath

This week I harvested the first of our garlic plants. The variety I pulled was the California Early garlic. It is supposed to be a smaller bulb but these were pretty large. I love the purple markings on them too!

If you haven't grown garlic then please put it on your to do list for this coming Fall. It is a simple, low maintenance crop that will give you a year of garlic breath in return. Simply break up the bulbs into single cloves and plant them about 6-8" apart. We ordered some bulbs but we were also given bulbs from a local farmer. Mulch them and forget about them till early summer.

Cut off the scapes when they come up to encourage the bulbs to grow. It forces the growth energy to the bulb instead of the flower. The scapes bloom into beautiful flowers which I use in my flower arrangements. You can also cook with the scapes.

We have another variety, Elephant Garlic, that I will harvest sometime next week. I have seen a preview of these monster bulbs and they are going to be stupid big. I will post some pics when I unearth them.

The Early Calis are in the basement curing. I will divide them up and share them with the other families here on the farm. The bulbs will be ready for the kitchen pantry in two weeks. Garlic has a huge laundry list of health benefits and it's totally worth the stink.

June Bounty

It's June! Did you notice?

Time slips away and it is beginning to bother me how fast things are moving. In my new 'slow' pace life I still feel like my hair is being blown sideways with the velocity of time. I keep getting reminders that life is fragile. Some of the reminders are in the form of sad news. So I'm making an effort to put on the brakes!

The best place to reflect on everything swirling around our farm life is in the garden. I can mindlessly pluck weeds, hill rows, water, and just stroll around looking at the bounty unfolding.  My favorite time to walk the gardens is at sunset when the whole farm is quiet. The hard work in March preparing the soil and plotting has proven it's worth. Plants are leaping for the sky and providing us food.

Our meals have become so interesting lately. I spend a lot less money at the market now. We use staples of beans, rice, and quinoa coupled with venison from the freezer and veggies from the garden. I even used sweet potatoes last night (still) from last Fall's harvest. We have endless options each day. I forget how much I miss fresh herbs till we are throwing them into everything. This isn't new for us. We have been growing food at a smaller scale for years. But now the scale is larger and so is our enthusiasm.

The hens and roosters are added entertainment. over the last few days the roosters have started to try out their voices. At first I thought they were hurt and I would run over to see what was wrong. They are pre-teens with scratchy vocals. It is pretty amusing. I also enjoy watching the roos 'front' each other. We are curious to see who will be the dominant male. Being dominant doesn't ensure your preservation on this farm. We are looking for personality and good manners.

One roo in particular has caught my eye. He is the one I photographed after the coop was finished perched right at the door of the coop. He is observant and calm. I enjoy how he walks up to me and then just stares and listens. I'm pretty sure he will be with us a long time.

The hens fit every stereotype you can imagine. They stick together and seem to be gossiping about you when you walk by. The hens have incredibly fluffy butts. I feel like I could dust the house with one of them if only they would allow that kind of handling. I'm looking forward to having fresh eggs soon. They need roosting boxes put in by the end of July.

Jasper is 16 months old now. He is ALL farm boy. Tractors, chickens and mud 24/7. He likes to frequent the strawberry patch and blueberry bushes. I'm enjoying walking with him everywhere (so is my back!). He is a mountain walking pro. Matt and I are impressed when he walks up the road with us and I know he will be able to hike any trail with us in the winter.

Jasper is also enormously spoiled to have grandparents around every week. He gets very excited whenever a grandparent rides by the cabin. Sometimes he completely freaks out if they don't stop to stay hello. He has no idea how lucky he is. I wish I had had time like that with grandparents. Just last night, I was missing my grandfather and wishing he was here. I can't imagine the bond that Jasper is forming with them. They will be his full time neighbors in a matter of months! Matt and I appreciate the extra hands. It is sometimes a struggle to figure out how to manage this place with a toddler. Our folks have allowed us time to take care of business and let our hair down. Just last Friday Jasper slept over with his 'Ahhh' and 'DatDad' so we could hang out after the Mermaid Parade. The what? That's right. Welcome to Marshall.

This community has been very welcoming. Marshall is full of surprises. I'm not sure what I expected but this has been a very easy move as far as community. Matt and I feel very blessed to have met such wonderful like minded people. We might not have Indian food (oh darn!) or Thai food (okay, I'm really bummed about that one) but we can always call a neighbor for homegrown sausage and a side of greens. Matt still has poker night and I get out with the Marshall ladies too. I think it is time for another Hot Springs night now that I think of it.

And a small plug... We have daylilies for sale! Come see us and the gorgeous blooms while they last. The season is short but mighty!

Coop

In cased you missed it...

The new Chicken Coop was featured on TreeHugger.com

check it out here

They're Here!

20 chicks arrived this morning via "Hess Express". Our friends were kind enough to include us in their chick order and then delivered them to our door.

They are cuuuuuute! Of course.

10 Light Brahmas
10 Buff Orpingtons

Here we go!

Work It

Spring has sprung and did a back flip just to show off. I imagine we are all a little hyper about this amazing weather coming so early. After a very mild winter, I am feeling pretty spoiled right now. Most of this week I was in a tank top. We enjoyed eating lunch on the porch every day and the doors are open on the cabin letting through some much needed fresh air.

It is a little bittersweet to see the acres of woods start to fill in again. I do love green but it is really nice to be able to walk anywhere in our woods through the winter. I’m hoping to carve out some time to keep our trails clear. But, who has time?

Time is my biggest issue 90% of the (eh hem) time. I’m working on not whining so much but I REALLY want my garden to kick granola ass this year. I started early by working with another farm (Leaning Willow Farm) on Wednesdays in their greenhouse. Next week that turns into field work instead of greenhouse work.  I have learned a lot from sweet Eliza.  In exchange for my ‘labor’ I get to take home some seedlings and they through in some nice potting soil last week too. It has given me more confidence in using our greenhouse and with organic gardening in general.

 Other projects have included potting up some of our perennials hopefully to sale in May and June. My tentative plan is to set up a booth on weeks when the perennials look thier best. I’m not ready for a season membership at the farmers market. And if I can’t get my act together to do a few booth weekends, then we will invite folks to buy them from us directly at the farm.

On to foodddddd gardening!

Most of our early spring crops are in. I still have a few more to seed but a lot of progress has been made. A biggggg shout out to Matt for getting the garden spaced tilled. Also, Pegi has been slaving away with me several times a week. I feel a bit bossy out there and she takes it really well. She knows a lot more about plants than I do. I just ‘play’ farmer at this point. I actually drew up a plan this year but I’m not sure why now. I change it as soon as I stick my boots in the dirt.

Jasper is handling all of this garden time pretty well. Since he is mobile, he doesn’t really like to be carried as much. The problem is that he is quick and it makes progress slow for this Mama.  Plant a seedling…grab rock out of child’s mouth…plant a seedling…divert child away from garlic plants, etc. I do think he likes it in the garden. Actually I think he likes to play in the dirt. This year he begins to understand the relationship of the plants and what ends up on his plate. Or not. He may still be too young but he surprises me everyday with his level of understanding.

I took a bunch of photos of the wildflowers popping up. I will try and blog about those soon too. For now…Mama duty calls. 

Happy Spring everyone!

Farming

There are few things that make a farm a farm. I think we are getting there! Here is my list and where we stand...

A garden - Our third farm garden will start being prepared this weekend when we turn the soil over. I have been working with another farm once a week in thier greenhouse. I'm the unofficial intern. They are giving me lots of seedlings as a trade. I'm learning a lot but I think farming is a endless education. We have also done our seed inventory and have been working on the garden lay out. Snow peas go in first...next week!

Something for sale-  I have also been working hard to get the daylily beds in order. We will have some to sell and I'm really out of excuses not to sell them. They will start bloomig in May. I have also started some other flower/herb seeds in the green house. We will see how those 'come up' before we decide if we will sell those too.

A tractor- Bob bought a beautiful tractor. He and Matt have mastered using it. It makes a lot of tasks so much easier. I still need to learn how to drive it myself. Jasper got his first tractor ride last week! He loved it but I think he loves being with his Daddy the most.

Livestock - Our first round of chicks are coming in on April 9th! This will be a whole new experience for us. I'm pretty excited about it. We are getting 20 chicks to start our flock. 10 Buff Orpingtons and 10 Light Brahmas. Matt has a beautiful coop designed. Look for photos soon!

It is a start. My back hurts.
:)